Maia sank into a chair. “I know, but you don’t have anyone to help you.”
“Maia, I would never go into a situation without backup. I’m good at what I do. I trusted you with the mountain lion and the wolves. You’ll have to trust me with this.”
She flashed him a faint smile. “Should I stand out in the yard with a gun?”
“No, you can stay in here and have faith that I’m really not a nice guy at all.” He sat down across from her. “What did you see that could help me?” He glanced at his brother, who was leaning against the counter, his face pale. “I’ll need you to listen to her, Jase, and help me figure this out.”
The boy took a deep breath and nodded, dropping into the chair next to Maia.
Beneath the table, Maia slipped her hand into the teenager’s. “I didn’t get much that made sense to me, but I can describe the area fairly well. It’s definitely up in the mountains, where there are lots of trees. There are huge rocks and a formation that looks as if it’s a fortress. I had the impression of a series of caves.”
“Yeah, I’ve been there,” Jase said. “I went one time when the old man was gone on a business trip. I snuck away from the men watching me and got lost. I found a trail off of the streambed, just past where the waterfall is. I followed it because the trail was a little wider than a deer trail and my horse had almost automatically turned on it, as if he’d been there before. I was pretty certain I could find my way back, and eventually I did.”
“I remember those old caves. You didn’t go into them, did you?”
“No, I was only about nine at the time and pretty scared of all the stories the hands told about bears and mountain lions.”
“Which are true,” Cole pointed out. He stood up and pushed back his chair. “I’m going to take the snowmobile out while the weather is holding.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ve got about an hour and a half before the next storm breaks.”
“I don’t like you going out alone,” Maia objected, shaking her head adamantly. “Let’s just call the police and let them investigate.”
“I agree, Cole,” Jase said, trying to sound adult and firm. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I’m just going to take a look around,” Cole said. “Nothing’s going to happen to me. You both have to remember, the old man owned this town. The police, the school officials, even the counselors were afraid of him. They needed his money, and he had too much political clout to fight him. I don’t know who at the police department I can trust. And if he was smuggling something, especially drugs, he’s been doing it for years and getting away with it. That means corruption somewhere.”
Maia put her arm around Jase. “An hour and a half, Cole. Give me a number to call, someone you trust, if you don’t come back.”
He studied her face, set in a determined expression, for a moment before scribbling a number on a tablet beside the phone. “Give me two hours, Maia. I’ll be back, I promise.”
“You’d better be,” she answered.
chapter
13
THE SNOW HAD BEEN FALLING for hours. Maia stared out at the white, silent world. It had seemed so beautiful, a sparkling crystal world, and now it appeared hostile and suffocating. The world outside her window was so white; even though it was nighttime, it appeared light. Through the swirl of flakes she could see the trees and shrubbery encased in ice. Long icicles hung from the overhang of the walkways and decorated the outbuildings. The corrals had layers of snow topping each rail. There was no movement, the world was silent and still as if locked in a frozen time frame.
Cole had come back from his snowmobile ride on time, but his entire demeanor had changed. He hadn’t discussed anything with either Jase or her. He’d glanced at their baking project, an elaborate gingerbread house, nodded without really listening to them, and disappeared into an office to spend the rest of the evening on the phone. He was distant and almost frightening, his features expressionless, his eyes hard. He seemed so remote from her, almost as if he were a different person.
“Maia?”
She whirled around, her heart pounding, her hand going protectively to her throat. There’d been no sound to give him away, but Cole stood in the middle of her bedroom wearing only a soft pair of jeans. His face was in the shadows, and he looked intimidating, a man possessing raw power, filling the room with his muscular build and the force of his personality.
“You aren’t afraid of me, are you?”
Maia took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She knew wild animals, had been around them in various environments, and she was well aware that Cole’s instincts were those of a trapped animal. She could almost smell the danger emanating from him.
“You’ve put on your DEA persona, the one you use to stay alive,” she stated, her gaze meeting his steadily. “Poor Jase was frightened, and, yes, so was I. You become a different person, one neither of us is familiar with.”